Senior Software Engineer

Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.

Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at Upwork.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X; and learn more about Lifted at Go-Lifted and follow on LinkedIn.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will lead the strategy, architecture, and evolution of tax calculation services that support business-critical compliance workflows across VAT, sales tax, and withholding. This role has a primary focus on backend services and platform architecture, alongside contributions to frontend development. It is a strong match for someone who enjoys untangling complex business logic, integrating third-party providers, and driving alignment across engineering, product, finance, tax, and compliance to deliver reliable systems for a global platform.

Responsibilities:

• Drive cross-functional alignment on complex financial and compliance initiatives, translating ambiguous requirements into clear technical direction, execution plans, and well-reasoned tradeoffs.

• Design, build, and evolve distributed services for payments and tax processing, improving accuracy, reliability, and maintainability across diverse regulatory and transactional use cases.

• Contribute to frontend application development using modern JavaScript frameworks, including Vue.js, to support internal and customer-facing workflows.

• Develop and operate robust APIs and integrations that scale with product growth, emphasizing performance, observability, and operational excellence.

• Integrate and manage external payment processors, tax engines, and compliance services, enhancing system resilience, reducing defects, and accelerating issue detection and resolution.

• Elevate engineering quality through strong testing practices, code reviews, and effective use of automation and AI-assisted workflows to improve development velocity without compromising rigor.

• Proactively identify systemic risks, ownership gaps, and process inefficiencies, and drive durable solutions that strengthen platform integrity, compliance confidence, and overall business impact.

What it takes to catch our eye:

• Deep experience supporting backend architecture and operating Java-based services in production, including RESTful APIs, relational databases, AWS, and scalable service design.

• Experience contributing to frontend applications using Vue.js or other modern JavaScript frameworks.

• Demonstrated ability to lead ambiguous, cross-team initiatives and influence technical direction across multiple stakeholder groups.

• Experience in tax, fintech, payments, or another compliance-heavy domain is valuable, along with the ability to learn complex business rules quickly.

• Fluent use of AI-enabled engineering tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar to accelerate development, debugging, and documentation, paired with the judgment to validate outputs and share effective AI practices that improve team execution.
  
  

Come change how the world works.

Upwork is establishing its first international operational hub in Lisbon, Portugal. The new office is expected to be fully operational by Q4 2026. This role will require 3 days in office once we have an office open.

This position will initially be employed through a partner to ensure a seamless hiring process while we establish the hub. Once the hub is established, there may be opportunities to transition to employment with Upwork, depending on business needs and other requirements. While employed by the partner, you’ll work as part of Upwork’s team, with access to our resources, culture, and growth opportunities.

Our partner will offer competitive benefits. When Upwork’s hub is established, we will be excited to offer employment and benefits directly as business needs require. 

Upwork is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.

We use BrightHire, an AI-enabled tool, to record interviews and summarize interview transcripts. The tool allows the interviewer to focus on the discussion and does not score or evaluate candidates or make recommendations. The interview transcripts are reviewed, and decisions are only made by humans. Candidates who prefer not to have their interview recorded through BrightHire can opt out when the interview is scheduled.

To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice and the Applicant Privacy Addendum (EEA, UK, and Switzerland).

To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice